"Unpaid bills - Afghanistan hills"
Right, this is their second album. The first, Outlandos D'Amour (which I don't have at the moment), established them among the New Wave-related artists as a rather innovative punk band with ifluences from reggae. Songs like "Roxanne" and "Can't Stand Losing You" sold out almost everywhere, and they were suddenly one of the most popular bands of the punk era, even if they weren't really punk, but rather a melodic pop band of wanna-be-reggae-ers. I can easily stand the 'melodic pop' part of the group, but to me, they destroyed every way of being great by making a horribly generic way of reggae, and not being able to make an adequate instrumentation to their songs. I know, though, that a lot of people really love them, including "important" guys like George Starostin, but to me, loving The Police is like loving , err, what? Grand Funk Railroad or Kiss? Quite impossible, that is.
About that non-ability to, in an adequate way, accompany the vocal melodies, then: well, this is pretty weird. All three of 'em, especially Andy Summers, where very experienced before starting The Police; all three had played with Strontium 90, a group lead by the ex-Gong guitarist Mike Howlett, the bassist/vocalist Sting had played with the jazz-based group Last Exit, drummer Stewart Copeland had played with Curved Air and the guitarist Andy Summers had played with a huge lot of guys since '64 or around, particularly with Zoot Money, Soft Machine, The Animals, Neil Sedaka, Kevin Coyne and Kevin Ayers. So the guys were unusually experienced for being a punk band, but they always pretended to be more than punk, and I suppose they were, even if I often appreciate punk bands more than Police. So WHY weren't they able to write an adequate pop song? This is what separates Police from punk bands of the time - the punkers were usually adequate, while Police always sounded as if they lacked both a second guitar and a keyboardist, plus that they weren't good at all when it came to singing the songs. I've got albums by artists whose treasury is WAY lesser than The Police's, and their albums are still more adequate and well-produced. None of these facts prevented The Police from being one of the greatest bands of the punk era, though, and heck - since well-wandered listeners like George Starostin and Stray Toasters love these guys, it might as well be me who's wrong. I admit that they were quite original, though - even if I've no idea why they were. Their reggae isn't original at all, Bob Marley and the guys developed that back in the 70's. Their pop is quite of the personal kind, though, but it wasn't revolutionary at all - quite like Nick Drake, even if their music is far from each other's (Nick Drake's much better, BTW!).
Yeah, this album, then: briefly, the poor production and lack of extra musicians plus the fact that a lot of the songs are quite horrible drags down the rating from an eventual 12 to a (quite strong) 10. This sounds shit to my ears, and therefore I rate it as shit.
The album opens with "Message In A Bottle", one out of two Police classics from this album, "Walking On The Moon" is the other. This one has got pretty poor verses, with whining vocals and with a not too good melody. The catchy chorus, "I send an S-O-S to the world..." - you've must have heard it at least once in your life - saves the song, though.
"Reggatta de Blanc" is a very neat little instrumental featuring the band delivering one of the most adequate instrumentations they ever put out, with a booming bass/guitar interplay. The vocals - some 'yeah-i-ooh''s - are also exceptionally good, while we at last don't have to listen at Sting's whining - this time he sounds rather mature. Some harmonies don't work, though, especially when one of the singers slightly deepens his voice, and it sounds pretty false.
"It's Alright To You" reminds me of Aerosmith - it has Joe Perry-ish guitars, the half-punk attitude, and vocals which are even worse than Steven Tyler's - still, this song turns me on, just the way one of Aerosmith's better tunes may turn me on. Again, the instrumentation works exceptionally well.
"Bring It On The Night" is a reggae ballad, and for being one of Police's generic reggae tunes, I like it quite much. Sting's vocals are horrible, though, even if the neat guitar tunes in the background are of high quality, and so is Copeland's drumming. Still, there's something which should be there... the accompaniment has that inadequate feel which is so typical for The Police.
"Deathwish" is... is... err... 'redneck reggae with pop influences'? Yeah, that works pretty well to describe the song. Sting's vocals sucks as usual, and again, they would have needed a second guitarist, a keyboardist, a better singer and heavier drummer.
"Walking On The Moon" is a pure generic reggae tune, but it's still an overplayed Police classic. It is a loose tune without much of a melody, even if Sting's repeating 'bom-pa-dummm' bass riff is repeated during the whole song, and Copeland's jazzy drumming is very good. Summers' guitar chord does nothing to the melody, and since the bass riff is so loose, there's only the vocals to bring any melody into it. This song is as empty as the moon's atmosphere and that's that.
"On Any Other Day" is a both funnier and rockier tune, though. Summers' guitar finally plays the tunes it should, it doesn't only play some occasional chords here and there. The vocal melody is cool, too, even if Copeland obviously is a jazz drummer - his rock drumming sounds generic.
"The Bed Is Too Big Without You" is another generic reggae tune, sounding the same through all it's four-and-a-half minutes. The bass line could be cool if it would have been better presented, but everything else sucks. Everything! It's worse than "Walking On The Moon"!
"Contact" quite rules, though - this time it's all about a fun - though quite ugly - bass line, fun - though whiny - vocals and a chorus which blows anything else they ever performed to hell! The bass forms a steady background, while the guitar gently puts out some neat little notes. Hey, this is cool!
"Does Everybody Stare" features a piano playing the notes Summers' guitar would usually do, i.e. some repeated reggae chords. This piano-reggae is actually quite fun. The vocal melody in the verses rips off Peter Gabriel in "The Battle Of Epping Forest", though - shame, shame, guys! - which is pretty fun for being The Police.
"No Time This Time This Time" is a speedy little rocker with the section before the chorus sounding like almost 'classic rock' - rocking Queen or whatever. The guitar solo imitates Ritchie Blackmore, even if Blackmore sounds way better. The choruses are quite ugly, though - why the hell did these guys sing on their records? They would've sounded much better with a qualified singer. Heck, even David Coverdale sounds better than Sting!
Anyways, this album is one of the most brightly shining albums by The Police, only overshadowed by the latercoming Zenyatta Mondatta, which of course sucks just the way this one does - generic reggae, inadequate musicians and poor vocals. Still, there's enough good songs to bring the rating to a quite strong 10. Non-diversity prevents the 11, though.
Heh, I bet you cannot shut up this time! Bash me!
I've got a feeling that this review will be unusually short,
but I'm short of time. We'll see when I'm finished. However, I should probably
introduce you to the album with a quote from George Starostin: 'Mmm, how can
I explain this? It's, simply put, the Revolver of The Police', and in
his review, he explains why he thinks so. Here and now, within my review, I'll
explain why it isn't. Let's begin with the very elementary stuff: Beatles had
a much better sense of nice, catchy melodies. By my opinion, Police had a sense
of catchy melodies, but they're almost never as good as The Beatles'. Imagine
Police making a tune similar to "Eleanor Rigby" in beauty and arrangement, can
ya? Or imagine The Beatles making "Don't Stand So Close To Me", or something
equally melody-lacking. All the Beatles, maybe except of Ringo, sang far better
than Sting, and especially John Lennon blows Sting to hell. The Beatles always
arranged their songs in a decent way, too, while The Police provides us with
trash like "Shadows In The Rain". OK, I agree that "Canary In A Coalmine" and
"De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da" have very decent melodies, and "Canary" even features
the band playing their instruments in a satisfying way. Heck, that tune is good
enough to fit a 15-point album like Revolver, even if it's FAR, FAR from
being similar to it, and myself I don't think it's justified to compare
this album with Revolver - after all, The Police should have an eulogy
because of the fact that they sounded original during the 80's, one thing that
not too many bands have been successful with, and one original band usually
cannot be compared with another (original) band. King Crimson vs. Beatles, eh?
All right, 'nuff zed 'bout that. The album opener, "Don't Stand So Close To
Me", is one of four Police classics, and together with "De Do Do...", one of
Police's greatest sell-outs. This tune is about the "sexy female pupil + teacher
= more or less true" subject, with the vocals being accompanied by the usual
poor little guitar which sounds shit. It's a poppy hoopla with a very catchy
chorus, man (wo)man does it suck! Sting's vocals just cannot be worse, and neither
can the melody or Summers' guitar playing be. A synthy interplay adds a necessary
bit 'o' diversity to the song.
"Driven To Tears" has got verses with a rather almighty bass line and great
drumming. Add to that that Summers' guitar only plays a coupla tones here and
there, and he gains no chance to destroy the song. The choruses are rather poor,
typical Police, though; it has that half-reggae, indulgent half-melody which
guarantess a Police song a place in the hearts of the fans.
"When The World Is Running Down, You Make The Best Of What's Still Around" features
a reverbed guitar which sucks and a vocal melody which is quite good. The drums
don't add anything to the song, and even if the bass has a quite important role
to play, it's really only about that fat guitar and voice. The voice doesn't
suck this time, though - mainly because Sting hasn't got to sing many high tones.
He uses to sound really whiny when he gets up there.
The mentioned "Canary In A Coalmine" is a very upbeat, speedy little thingio,
with a fun vocal melody and an adequate (!!!) guitar line. And for once, I LIKE
the little bit 'o' reggae they put into the tune! Now that's pretty unusual
- they play reggae which isn't generic!
Unfortunately, "Voices In My Head" is far worse. It's one of four - rather hard-appreciated
- instrumentals on the album. It's dominated by an echoey, repeating guitar
line which just sucks, and the song seems...er, like everything else bar "Canary"
- empty. The few vocals doesn't make the song any better, and some 'CHA CHA'
only makes it even worse.
"Bombs Away" is, fortunately, much better. For the second time around, I like
the little bit 'o reggae they have put into the tune. It's another quite upbeat
tune, anti-war-ish (BTW, here's where the quote on the top of the page comes
from) pop/reggae tune, with the stress on pop. Its melody isn't by far as cool
as the one in "Canary In A Coalmine", though, and a not too almighty guitar
solo in the middle and end of the song doesn't really fit, but it's still probably
the second best song on the album, since it's really adequate - and after all,
the first guitar solo rules during its first ten seconds, which is something...
"De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da" is a very pleasant, neat and childish pop tune with
one of the catchiest choruses ever. However, the guitar, which should fill up
the tangibleemptiness besides of Sting's vocals, only plays some ugly chords
which misfits the song. I dig the pre-chorus part, plus the vocals in the chorus,
though.
"Behind My Camel" is a dark, moody instrumental, with a lot of synths. The drumming
and bass-playing is pretty cheesy, and even if the guitar is almighty, it gives
me headache. Gotta move over to the next track...
"Man In A Suitcase" which is ANOTHER upbeat reggae/poppy tune. Hey, I'm becoming
rather bored! This one isn't nearly as good as "Canary", or even "Bombs Away",
mainly because of the somewhat worse guitars and a less fun vocal melody. Rich
Bunnell, please don't bring up your '"Canary In A Coalmine" and "Man In A Suitcase"
are rewrites of each other' argument - we've heard it before, even if you're
always welcome to write a review about it...:-)
"Shadows In The Rain" is the third instrumental, and it's just trash - I cannot
understand how someone can like this crap, but it's a fact that some does it,
so... Anyway, it's a loose reggae jam, totally without melody and structure,
and the few vocals are about the worst on the whole album. Only...
..."The Other Way Of Stoping" is worse. It has a VERY poor guitar/bass line
which any loosy amateur could write/play - even if the drums kinda rules. Copeland's
a good guy - besides the fact that he was the one who wrote this, that is...
Anyways, why the hell end up an album with the two worst songs - or include
them at all - I'll never know. But, as a whole, the album is a very up-and-downish
thing - not by far as consistent as Revolver - but it's mostly up, and
since objectivity rules, I decided to give it a weak 12.
Any comments or reviews to grant us with?
They didn't call the previous album 'top of the world' without
reason; it was their peak, and why not boast about it? But they didn't want
to fade away, either, so they decided to really work hard on the next one, so
that the desending wouldn't be too obvious. They really did work it out, too,
and they also brought saxes and synths into the sound. They had also been fooling
around with the XTC producer for a while, and on this album he became head producer.
What bothers me about this album is that they pretend to over-produce the album.
The Police did never release an album where they sounded better than any garage
band, which of course might be because that their music sounds as it does, and
so it sounds rather cheesy when they clean up the sound and put those synths
into the album. The Police should sound dirty - what happens now is that
they lose a lot of resonance. The tendence is even more obvious on the next
album, Synchronicity, just by the way.
Another thing which bothers me is - as usual - that they cannot make decent
reggae, 'cos they always sound generic in a way Bob Marley, Lee Perry and those
guys didn't. Maybe it's because that they're white, what do I know - the blues
syndrome, you know? Almost no white guy can write an innovative, non-generic
blues, maybe except of Captain Beefheart, while almost no black guys are involved
with proggers and such lads. Correct me if I'm wrong, but this is what I have
experienced, and I'm pretty certain I'm not alone on this point.
The third thing that bothers me is that they at this time had developed their
pop so well that they could easily have produced a pop masterpiece, but no -
they still keep fooling around with the reggae instead of concentrating on what
they're experts on. Self-indulgent, I say!
The album opens with "Spirits In The Material World", which is an immediate
catastrophe - the same generic reggae we've already heard too much about, now
with awful synths added to the sound. And it's so darn generic! Especially the
verses are hideous, while the chorus at least has a sense of melody. Not a very
great album opener, I say.
"Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic" is WAY better, though! Quite dull verses,
even if they're soothing and features a nice piano melody, but the choruses
are gorgeous! I almost feel like I'm on some Caribbean island, even if it isn't
any kind of reggae. A piano/synth theme most delightfully replaces those barrels
the Islanders uses to bang on, I've forgotten what they're called. Unsurprisingly,
the song was a huge hit back in the 80's, and it's not sounding dated at all,
even if the ending is somewhat overlong. As you might have noticed, they borrowed
almost the whole song title from The Beatles, only replacing the last word with
"magic". Cool song, IMHO!
"Invisible Sun" is a darker and moodier tune, opening in an almost Dire Straits-ih
way, with a small section before the chorus almost sounding like Aerosmith's
"Nobody's Fault" and with a chorus which rip offs something else, or at least
is a mix of older pop tunes with a synth making it darker. Not too good, if
you ask me.
"Hungry For You" is the first Police song ever to feature saxes, which, alas,
only seems to be an unnecessary encumbrance. The melody is quite like some sort
of "generic Police", and it feels as if it's a filler track. The saxes only
repeats the same two tones through the whole song, and the instrumentation makes
it sounding quite tottering, even if the vocals and drums at least tries to
bring some sort of structure to it.
"Demolition Man" is a rather funny tune, though, with saxes actually playing
a good melody, and with the band members sounding quite rocky, it makes a pleasant
counterpoint to the generic, boring songs of "Invisible Sun" and "Hungry For
You". Of course, it feels as if I've heard it once before, but I can't tell
where, and so I'm OK. And after all, rip-offs aren't necessarily bad, are they?
At least not this time!
"Too Much Information" has also saxes playing an important part of the song.
It sounds quite fun as long as I can lock out the chorus, which sure is catchy,
but this time that's only a bad thing, 'cos I REALLY don't wanna go around humming
on that generic reggae thingio! Heck, they sound like 15-agers when they whine
that way!
"Rehumanize Yourself" is another very funny, mood-raising tune, though. It's
a very upbeat pop tune, sure with reggae-ish chords, but with other instruments
covering the 1st and 3rd beat silence. Rules!
"One World (Not three)" is generic reggae. That says pretty much everything
about how I feel about the tune. It sucks, that is.
"Omega Man" opens with some King Crimson-inspired guitar notes, which also returns
in each chorus. The verses has a Deep Purplish bass, BTW, even if the vocal
melody probably is home-made. All these factors makes up a pretty cool tune,
even if they goes overboard in the choruses. "Secret Journey" opens with some
moody (?) synths, fading over into a dull rock (?) tune with reggae-ish (yeah,
actually), whining vocals. Not a big hit.
"Darkness" repeats the same syncpoised keyboard line over and over, and of course
with the usual generic, whining teenage vocals. Not any kind of a good album
closer! Yeah, that was all. It's a good album as long as you, unlike me, can
appreciate the reggae stuff, and hey - George gave it a 13! But for me this
is a very uneven album, with both high peaks and low valleys, but I still believe
it's a strong 10. I suppose it's worth a try, but myself I'll stay away from
this album for a while...
Any comments or reviews to grant us with?
That last sentence was dedicated to George Starostin, who
thinks that this is one of the best swan songs he has heard. The best swan song
I have heard is probably Klaatu's Magentalane, by the way. However,
the band was brought together once more, despite the rather grumbly temper in
the band, but it took them more than one year to overcome the tensions this
time. Fortunately (yeah - it's me, not you, who writes this review!), the guys
chose not to get together any more time, but to continue as solo artists, of
course with the always ingratiating Sting as the most successful. This album
is actually mostly a Sting album, since Andy Summers and Stewart Copeland only
contributed with one song each. Sting made sure to give the band a huge sell-out
before thet broke up, and songs like "Every Breath You Take", "King Of Pain"
and "Wrapped Around Your Finger" became big hits, and the album sold almost
as much as Thriller, which means several millions. The big changes in
their sound were mostly that they, as mentioned, brought in even more synths
than before, while Summers and Copeland suffered space, Sting finally sings,
not only whines as before, and the songs are more or less adequate, plus that
fact that there's no annoying reggae this time. When these things are printed
down, it seems as if the changes mostly were for the best, but when you hear
it, you'll realise that it's not - Copeland's drumming is now too often electric,
and Summers' guitars often sounds as if it came from any generic symph-pop band.
The synths sucks, too, and so does most of the songs, with a few exceptions,
though. But hey - the polices has lost their personality - this ain't Police
no more, it's mainstream pop! OK, I agree that it's mostly well-written,
but I hate when a band loses their personality in order to fit the huge crowd's
harsh tastes! I've never really liked The Police, and when they go symph, it
results in a - by my tastes - crappy album, not anything like Caravan, who actually
made a couple of good symph-pop albums.
Anyways, the album opens on a very bad note, "Synchronicity I", which contains
a complex, repeating synth rythm. However, even I can make a similar line on
my synth, even during the days I was 10 years old, and it sounds unbearably
cheesy and indulgent. The vocal melody is otherwise quite good, and so is the
drumming, but whadda hell had they got to put such an ugly synth line into the
song? Not too good, guys!
"Walking In Your Footsteps" is even worse, with a synth line similar to the
one in "Synchronicity I" with its cheesiness and almost amateurish structure.
There's almost no drums or guitars, or they're there, but not very loud. So
the song is dominated by that horrible synth line and Sting's vocals, which,
for sure, has got a melody, and he doesn't sound bad, but he does not at all
save the song.
"O My God" is pretty good, though - quite retro, but it has a more adequate
instrumentation than the old songs used to have, and so it's a good little heavy-pop
tune with saxes here and there, and Sting finally SOUNDS GREAT! At least by
his usual standards - there's still lots, not to say tons, of better
singers, but for once, he rules. "Mother" is a ridiculous little tune, meant
to be psychic and paranoid, but Mr. Andy Summers doesn't sounds anything else
than just ridiculous, and the guitar is obviously inspired by his childhood
friend Robert Fripp's 80's work with King Crimson. However, Summers' "vocals"
just sucks, but he does sound rather funny, and the song's fairly better
than the first two songs. It's the only song from Summers, BTW.
"Miss Gradenko" is Copeland's only contribution, and it's a rather leightweight
little pop tune, dominated by the catchy chorus; 'Is anybody alive in here?'
and the post chorus line, where a fun guitar comes in and interplays with the
singer: 'Nobody but us'. That chorus is just almighty!
"Synchronicity II" opens with some little synth noises, which don't sound promising,
but the song soon changes into a rocker which reminds you of something - it's
rather mainstream, see, but it has a certain charm, similar to the one some
very good garage bands may excercise upon ya.
"Every Breath You Take" has everyone heard - after all, it was covered only
a couple of years ago, and again became a huge hit, which may say a lot about
its qualities, i.e. it's a dang commercial thingio, with an ingatiating melody
which always has and always will charm the fans of commercial radio. I hate
it for being all of this - c'mon, when did The Police become Take That or Backstreet
Boys? No, sorry, tough luck - this ain't for me, even if it sure has its qualities
and is well-written.
"King Of Pain" is another big hit with a poor, synth-dominated verse, or if
it's Andy who maybe got a coupla pedals which he didn't know how to use, and
the chorus is symph-poppy, with guitars that you cannot deny comes directly
from the symph-popsters. A poor little guitar/synth solo doesn't really make
the song any better.
"Wrapped Around Your Finger" is another huge single hit, with more synths and
synth-guitars, mainly playing some bright couple of notes in the background,
and the vocal melody sucks, too. The chorus goes in the same vein as the previous
two sell-outs. A good reason to dislike it.
At least "Tea In Sahara" is acceptable, even if it too is synth-dominated, but
it's calm and not meant to sell, and after the horrible three earlier songs,
it's rather pleasant - even if it's far from being good.
Yeah, that was it. A lot of people has bought this album through the years,
so I suppose they have got to have seen any good qualities within it, but NEVER
will I put this album on by free will again!
Any comments or reviews to grant us with?